37vegetables

One of the super-cool benefits of working at 37signals is a membership in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We get fresh fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market or delivered to our doors, which encourages us and our families to cook and eat healthier — and the brain food helps us stay at the top of our mental game too!

It also feels great to support local farmers. We’re spread out all over the place, so the contents of our CSA boxes reflect what’s local and in season where we live.

Michael

That’s a good employee benefit; good idea. Do any of you Chicago area people use Angelic Organics? (This guy. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/realdirt/ He used to be my neighbor.)

Patrick

on 03 Apr 12

What are the environmental ramifications of having a boxes of food delivered door-to-door? Supporting local growers is fine but what about the extra expenditure of fuel to make this “feel good” process work?

Michael

on 03 Apr 12

Patrick, it’s less fuel than buying from the grocery store. Less to deliver and way less to grow.

-Savings from geographic batching of customers. CSAs attempt to cluster customers in particular neighborhoods by, for example, doing door-to-door canvassing. I tried a CSA when someone came to our door after one of our neighbors signed up.

Of course, whether you personally will net reduce energy consumption by signing up for a CSA is uncertain. One of the reasons I cancelled mine is I happen to live near an amazing produce-oriented grocery store that buys from local/regional farmers. I often walk to the store, so trucking food to my house was probably a net increase in carbon use (though maybe not if you consider one of my neighbors is a customer).

Antoine

on 03 Apr 12

This food looks so good. Please share the recipes..!!!

Emily

on 04 Apr 12

@Daryl and @Antoine: I tend to cook with whatever is around, so recipes aren’t really my thing — I’m sorry! But if I remember correctly that pie was from a Paula Deen recipe (read: enough butter and sugar to cancel out any health benefits from the sweet potatoes and eggs).

For the folks in Chicago (and inspiration beyond), I want to give a little shout out to my friend LaManda Joy’s Peterson Garden Project, which this year will be expanded with “pop up Victory Gardens” all over the city. Here’s the new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CUXRVCWbJA and the Peterson Garden’s newly updated website: http://www.petersongarden.org/

What an awesome benefit! My husband and I love participating in CSAs, though we find it hard to use up a full share with just the two of us and have struggled to find a good half share supplier in our new city. My favorite part is the unexpectedness having a box of random vegetables adds to each week. It forces us to be spontaneous and creative. We’ve tried foods and discovered recipes we’d never have encountered had we stuck to the supermarket. There’s something really neat about meeting the people who grow your food and supporting them directly, too.